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Tuesday, July 22, 2014

I mentioned in my last post that I intended to paint my shop floor a light gray color. The floor is now gray.

We have red clay soil where I live and frankly the white floor looked pretty terrible. On Friday afternoon I looked around and estimated it would take me about 45 minutes to move everything out of the way and clean the floor in preparation of painting. Having tool chest on wheels greatly facilitated the process, even though it actually took an hour and a half, however before I quit for the day I had the edges cut in and one coat of paint on the floor.

Friday night the monsoon set in. It had not rained here in quite some time so I wasn't complaining about the rain, however it did put adding a second coat of paint in question. I decided to cut in the edges and see if that would dry. I was running the air conditioner to help dry out the air. Given the amount of rain that was falling outside I didn't know if this would make a difference. When finished with the second cut in I was off to the store for another gallon of paint. When I returned the cut in areas had indeed dried so I commenced to rolling on a second coat of paint.

I was able to let the floor dry all Saturday evening and most of the day on Sunday. The rain persisted thru the weekend and has continued off and on this week. Once again I'm not complaining about the rain, we need it and the paint has dried just fine.

One thing I noticed on Monday while returning tool chest and other assorted items to their proper location. The hard plastic wheels on the tool chest casters did not mark the floor. The softer rubber casters on the dollies I used for the items that did not have wheels did leave some black marks on the floor especially at the points where we made turns to arrive at the unloading position.

My shop is beginning to look like a proper place of work and I have to say that I'm enjoying the new environment immensely. Now it's time to use this space for it's intended purpose. Creating tools and works of wood.

Thursday, July 10, 2014

The brown paper backing on the insulation batts reduced the efficiency of my light fixtures a great deal.

When I first constructed my shop I was the manager of an engineering department at a metal working business and never imagined I was constructing a place that would be the location of my full time occupation. Also I did not have a large budget for the shop. As my Dad used to say, "this was back in a time when I didn't have two nickels to rub together".

That might be a slight exaggeration but this was a period of time when Julie and I had 3 young children that had needs much greater than my needs for a workshop. Once dried in I didn't think I needed to spend much time or expense in finishing the interior of my shop. After some years I made the decision to become a full time furniture maker and as such I needed a space that would allow me to work during all kinds of weather conditions. At this point I did install batts of insulation in the walls and ceiling of the shop and I also installed drywall in the ceiling.

This sufficed for a while. Making the transition to full time plane making changed the requirements for my shop. The room that was added as a finishing room changed to a room where I did all my metal working. I had less need for major woodworking tools so my large 25" planer found a new home.

A couple of years ago I installed a new floor in the shop. The original floor was made from yellow pine boards and they had become smaller over the years. Heating and cooling had become more of a challenge so I installed T & G subfloor and to enhance light reflection I painted the floor white. A white floor might seem impractical however it did help with light reflection.

Historically my home town goes on vacation the week of the 4th. When the textile mills were the main employer they shut down for the week of the fourth and so the employees had no choice but to scheduled their vacation for that week. Even though the textile mills are defunct this tradition still continues and most of my home town goes to Panama City, Florida for the week of the fourth. Many restaurants are closed for that week, as are many other businesses.I wasn't officially on vacation this week but I was awaiting materials to arrive for the next planes I would be making so I decided to spend a couple of days installing wall covering in the shop. This was a long overdue upgrade and I was looking forward to getting this accomplished.

As you can see in the pictures this has been quite the upgrade. The white walls maximize the out put of my lighting fixtures. I can now finally think about painting the floor a color that will be more practical to live with on a daily basis.

My shop has evolved just like anyone's shop. I went thru an upgrade in woodworking tools during my time as a commissioned furniture maker and then saw another transition to metal working tools as I set about making my shop a place to produce tools.

I worked for so many years in my shop with the kraft papered insulation batts showing that this week it almost seems that I'm working in someone else's shop that just happens to be configured just like my shop and holds my tools.

Like all transitions I will gradually grow accustomed to this new environment. The white walls have increased the volume of light in my shop significantly. Once again I'm asking myself why I waited so long?

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

A customer asked if it was possible to have a wooden storage box made for his plane. In this case the "Willie Davis" plane. I've not had this request in the past so I asked for a bit of time to think this over.

I needed to think over a configuration that would function as requested yet not escalate to becoming a work of art. In fact the specifications were that it just be functional and not overly elaborate. I couldn't resist the urge to say "so you just want a plane box huh?

I immediately imagined a structure much like the simple packing box the character Thomas constructed in the book 'The Joiner and Cabinetmaker". This enclosure would however be hinged and would have a painted finish.

I don't presently have a thickness planer and so I set about re-sawing some pieces of popular I received from my friend Jon Fiant. I then planed this material to final thickness using a jointer and smoothing plane. This was easily accomplished and the extra calories I burned that day afforded me an extra biscuit at dinner that evening.

The construction could not have been simpler. Butt joints joined with square cut nails. I am always amazed at the strength and holding power of square cut nails. I glued on a hinge and latch strap at the top and bottom. Besides providing a place for the hinges and the latch it also bridged the joints where the pieces of the sides came together at right angles, re-inforcing these joints.

The top was merely two boards joined with two wooden cleats or straps, assembled using more of the square cut nails. I cut the lid boards from one board that was amazingly flat prior to dividing. This board was a drop piece that had been hanging around in Jon's shop for quite a while prior to arriving at my shop. Any wide board that had stayed flat thru time in two different shop environments was a good board for the lid parts.

The paint was a Sherwin Williams sold color exterior stain.Cape Cod Red. It looks quite a lot like milk paint when applied. After two coats I sanded it with 400 grit sandpaper and then rubbed it down with maroon Scotchbrite. I then applied a provincial colored stain. This helped me achieve the final color and gave the paint a subtle sheen. The next day I applied a bit of shellac to seal the stain and paint.

The bottom panel was made from some white pine and left unfinished to contrast with the red. (not shown) Then a layer of 1/2" thick foam. I used 2.5" thick pluck and pull foam in the area where the plane was to reside. You just remove as many of the 5/8" squares as required to fit the object you wish to hold. This is topped off with another layer of 1/2" foam.

This plane enclosure is just what it needs to be in order to function as planned and still have enough character to make it visually interesting.